I ditched corporate America in 1994 and started a management consulting and venture capital firm (http://petercohan.com). I started following stocks in 1981 when I was in grad school at MIT and started analyzing tech stocks as a guest on CNBC in 1998. I became a Forbes contributor in April 2011. My 11th book is "Hungry Start-up Strategy: Creating New Ventures with Limited Resources and Unlimited Vision" (http://goo.gl/ygaUV). I also teach business strategy and entrepreneurship at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass.

Who Does Curt Schilling Owe $151 Million?

Good news, Red Sox fans: I found Curt Schilling's famous bloody sock from the 2004 ALDS (Photo credit: permanently scatterbrained)

Curt Schilling’s video game company is officially defunct. The proud crusader against big government finds himself in the awkward position of not being able to repay about $116 million he owes Rhode Island taxpayers.

But the beauty of his bankruptcy filing is the bright light it casts on all the people other than the state of Rhode Island to whom 38 Studios owes money. Before getting into the details, let’s look at the bigger picture. Schilling owns 82.9% of 38 Studios and it claims assets of $21.7 million and $150.7 million in liabilities, including $115.9 million owed to Rhode Island, according to Reuters.

Who are the biggest losers besides the state of Rhode Island? The four biggest unsecured creditors among the many who comprise the $34.8 million balance include a vendor of tax credits, two landlords, and a best-selling Massachusetts author.

Preservation Credit Fund: $11.5 million. Studio 38 owes the most money to this “national consulting/syndication firm focused on structuring transactions for tax-advantaged projects and purchasing state tax incentives. Preservation Credit Fund works closely with developers and advisors to maximize tax credit benefits, advise on tax credit issues and provide syndication services,” according to the LinkedIn page of its Principal, Michael Corso. Now we know why Schilling was so upset that Rhode Island did not extend those tax credits to Studio 38.

Empire Lasalle: $10.8 million. This is the amount Schilling owes on the lease for Studio 38′s offices — at least that’s my guess based on the notation “office lease: total amount contractually due under the lease” in the Schedule F;

R. A. Salvatore: $1.7 million. Studio 38 owes this money to the “New York Times best-selling author beloved for series like The Dark Elf Trilogy, Paths of Darkness, The Hunter’s Blades Trilogy, and The Cleric Quintet. He has written 40 novels which have sold over 15 million copies worldwide,” according to 38 Studios’ web site.

WRMM: $1.5 million. This is the rent that Studio 38 owes on the Maynard, Mass. office that it vacated after it moved to Providence.

The interesting question is whether Studio 38′s assets are really worth $21.7 million. My guess is that the court will not be able to sell them for anywhere near that amount. This means that the tax credit maven, the landlords, and the author will join the taxpayers of Rhode Island in being on the wrong end of Schilling’s ideas about moral obligation.

And in an interesting twist, it looks like this bankruptcy is not being treated as a simple failed business venture. After all, “The state police, the attorney general’s office, the U.S. Attorney’s office and the FBI are opening an investigation into 38 Studios, both the money that came from the state as well as the money that came from Bank Rhode Island,” Rhode Island State Police Col. Steven O’Donnell told WPRI.com.

While the state of Massachusetts dodged a bullet when it decided not to make Studio 38 a loan, his Maynard, Mass. landlord and Leominster, Mass.-based Salvatore were not so lucky.

But small-government lover, Schilling, still owes Rhode Island taxpayers over three times more than his private sector creditors.

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Who financed Curt’s deal when he bought the Baltimore studio? Even though he made a nice sum as a ball player, I sincerely doubt if that 2009 purchase was an all cash deal. I would assume that whoever underwrote that deal is owed a large piece of change right now.

R. A. Salvatore is owed 1.7 million dollars for what? Macaroni and Meatballs? When you have phantom figures like that being floated about, no wonder the RI state police is investigating.

Another example of how most ball player’s are not good business men. If I were gifted enough to have played a professional sport, the first two men I’d try to get a meeting with were Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. These two have ballooned their net worth to to about half a billion dollars since their playing days. And both seemed poised to make it to the billionaire club before their permanent residence is an urn or a casket.

I’d want to share their lawyer, accountant, and financial advisers first and foremost.

Another example that debunks Keynesians like Obama who want us to believe that companies like 38 Studios and Solyndra are the path to prosperity. Gee, it was just two years ago Biden was telling us in the very near future the economy would be creating 250,000 to 500,000 jobs per month due to their “stimulus.” Meanwhile, since the VP extolled the virtues of government (taxpayer) subsidized investing the economy has averaged 188,000 jobs per month. Good piece.